What is the pH of a Mixture of 2.00M Chlorus Acid and 2.00M Formic Acid?

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SUMMARY

The pH of a mixture of 2.00M chlorus acid and 2.00M formic acid is determined primarily by the acid with the larger dissociation constant (Ka), which is chlorus acid (Ka = 1.1×10-2). The calculation involves using the quadratic formula to find the concentration of hydrogen ions from chlorus acid, yielding a value of 0.143. The pH is then calculated as -log(0.143), resulting in a pH of approximately 0.845. While the contribution from formic acid (Ka = 1.78×10-4) is negligible in this case, the final pH is confirmed to be around 0.84.

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Homework Statement


2.00M chlorus acid and 2.00M formic acid are mixed. What is the pH?


Homework Equations


Ka of chlorus acid is 1.1×10-2
Ka of formic acid is 1.78×10-4


The Attempt at a Solution


For chlorus acid with quadratic equation to find x:
x²+0.011x-0.022
(-0.011\pm\sqrt{}0.000121-4(1)(-0.022))/2
(-0.011\pm0.297)/2
The positive number of the two choices is 0.143

For formic acid, and the x being small enough to neglect, x is:
x²/2=0.000178
x²=0.000356
x=0.0189

When mixing weak acids, I think I was told that only the acid with the larger Ka value matters, meaning taking the negative log of chlorus acid's H ion gets -log0.143=0.845.

I wasn't sure this was correct so then I tried adding the two H ion concentration from each acid to find their pH. I did 0.143+0.0189=0.162 and negative log that for 0.791.
I'm not sure it is added this way, since I got a bit confused about the idea of adding molarity together, so I divided by 2 first then negative log for 1.09.

Still I'm not sure this is correct so I think I took the wrong steps. How is this correctly done?
 
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312213 said:
When mixing weak acids, I think I was told that only the acid with the larger Ka value matters, meaning taking the negative log of chlorus acid's H ion gets -log0.143=0.845.

It isn't entirely true - you can do it if the difference between both acids pKas is large enough and if the weaker acid is weak enough. That's the case here and 0.84 is a correct answer.

Unfortunately, it is hard to be more specific.
 

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